First let me say that the only reasons I'm even posting these is because
1. I've seen worse for sale on ebay
2. I need tips on chainsaw carving!
I have no patience, don't ever plan on selling carved tikis, and need to re-do my front yard with a budget of almost $0.00! I want to add a few tikis with some palmwood I have after Ganderma Fungus wiped out many, many specimine palms. Since the tikis are for the front yard, I don't want to (and can't) spend the money on tikis that someone could make off with.
I plan on painting these and want a primitive look. These happened while I was taking the chainsaw to a bed of roses (I hate roses in the front yard) I will be planting a cycad garden to replace the rose bed when it warms up a bit. I looked over at the wood sitting there and decided to try a tiki-no drawing or planning.
While scanning through the tiki carving thread I read lots of info on chisels, etc. but couldn't find info on chainsaw carving.

Any tips, Keigs, would be greatly appreciated, Keigs!!!!! I also know there is an old book out there by Bill Westenhaver about chainsaw carving and would pay someone for some copied pages of tips. Let me know if you have this book (I'm not going to be anyones competition) Like I even need to say that....here's the sad guys.

That's an hour of my life, I can't get back. How do the wood chips get in your underwear anyway?

Hey laney, cool stuff. Just carve loose and don't tense up. I know it's hard to do, but that seems to let you carve a little more freely. I like the beginnings of them there tikis. Protect your eyes and ears and don't wear loose fitting clothes . Also apply different pressure to the saw and see how it cuts differently, as well as using the tip of the blade as well as the middle and base of the blade. Symmetry(sp?) is the hardest thing to master for sure. Please email me your ph# so I can put you in contact with this plant guy already, I don't know if you ever saw my other message about this. Or I can give you his # too. Or?

Laney- not bad for your first ones. I usally draw out what I want to carve on a big piece of poster paper. the same size as you want the tiki. I then cut out the lines on the paper and make a template. Make it so when you wrap it around the post everything is in the spot where you want it. Wrap it aound the post and tack it then use spray paint to sray on the design on the wood. Then carve away or draw it on the post with a marker. Bill always says the deeper you carve the better. Straight cuts are what he started out doing like the tikis you carved but the more you do it you find you can flip your chainsaw different ways for different cuts. Practice on a piece of wood you dont care about. I use the tip of the chainsaw most. The smaller the tip of the bar the better. When using the tip of the bar watch out for kickback hold the chainsaw tight. I do have the book you are talking about and can send you pics. But the best way to learn is just do it and figure out the different ways to do different cuts. Hope this makes sense and helps. Email me and I will send you some pics.

Hey, it looks like a mighty fine start to me, considering they're recognizable as tikis, and they aren't spattered with blood from a chainsaw mishap. I have a feeling that if I made an attempt to carve with a chainsaw, the results would look like they'd been through some sort of horrific nuclear event. Be sure to post round 2!

use the force, laney!
it's absolutely true - when i was learning to tattoo i found that if you breath and just trust yourself, you actually maintain much more control.
i like what you've done - they're very cartoony and different.

I used a chainsaw once as a teenager, the damn thing kicked back on me and came a millimeter from giving me a Van Gogh. Haven't touched one since and the thought of getting all fancy with one scares he hell out of me. Good Luck and let us know if you cut anything off. We can sacrafice it to the tiki gods!

Aloha Laney,
I freehand the images onto the log with chalk. If you're going to draw the pattern onto the log befor you carve it and your going to do it free hand not copying it onto the log. Then use chalk. I use chalk because it's eazy to erase any areas that might seem uneven.

Or you can cheat and display any image from any book onto the log then just follow the lines. The easy way out.